With the Opposition benches sporting an empty look, the Left parties utilised the opportunity in the Lok Sabha to raise some crucial issues with the government and criticise certain policies. Whether it was the discussion on the Finance Bill or the Calling Attention Motion of CPI leader Gurudas Dasgupta, Left parties and allies mounted pressure on the government stating that not enough was being delivered on the government’s policies.Raising the issue of the surging NPAs of banks touching Rs 96,000 crore, Dasgupta accused the finance minister of underestimating the NPAs and overestimating collections of loans from defaulters. He said the government should make public the list of defaulters released by the Indian Banks’ Association so that big defaulters would also face public and social pressures, forcing them to repay the defaulted loans.In typical Parliament rhetoric, Dasgupta said: ‘‘If I’m frank it will be too brutal and if I make a cosmetic remark it will go against my conscience. NPA recovery is nominal, punishment selective, enforcement weak and courts few to solve this huge problem.’’ Dasgupta even called the finance minister’s reply a ‘‘linguistic bombardment’’. With the Opposition absent, I&B Minister Jaipal Reddy called Dasgupta’s outburst ‘‘playing to the gallery.’’Finance Minister P. Chidambaram however defended the action of banks and said strengthening of the Securitisation and Reconstruction of Financial Assets and Enforcement of Security Interest Act, 2002 (SARFAESI) and its amendments had helped in tightening the grip over these defaulters.
